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Lancashire League Summer Series 2016

Teams from across the NW fighting it out to be crowned Champions

The Lancashire League Summer Series idea was conceived and implemented in its first year by a couple of committee members of Fleetwood Flyers who were eager to form a quality competition to accommodate the growing number of walking football teams around the North West of England.

Many ideas and formats were discussed until the final format was decided on and with the dates booked at the excellent Poolfoot Farm Sports & Leisure Village and the teams invited the event would run over five qualifying rounds spaced roughly a month apart and culminating in a Grand Finals Day to be held in October 2016 at which point the Champions would be decided.

ROUND ONE 5/6/16 ..... BLACKPOOL Qualify

Having gained valuable experience in competition organisation after hosting the Lancashire regional finals of the Walking Football United national competition a month earlier the Fleetwood Town Flyers were ready to accept teams for the first round of the Lancashire league Series
The first round of the series, falling in a very busy period for the local teams, was a rather low key affair with only three teams entered, Blackpool Senior Seasiders, Blackburn Rovers WFC and of course Fleetwood Flyers but on what proved to be a very warm day the quality of football was excellent with all three teams performing to a high standard with Blackpool eventually running out winners and so first to qualify for the finals

"A big thanks to Fleetwood Flyers for a very well organised competition and hospitality and to all teams who competed." Ian Jones, Blackpool Senior Seasiders

ROUND TWO 3/7/16 ..... WIGAN WALKERS WHITES Qualify

As the day of round two dawned it was clear that yet again the weather was going to be very warm providing a stern test for the six teams entered, which included Blackpool Senior Seasiders, Blackburn Rovers WFC and Fleetwood Town Flyers who were joined by Wigan Walkers Whites, Wigan Walkers Yellows and AFC Fylde

Wigan Whites dominated the play on their first visit to Poolfoot Farm and ran out deserved winners and booking their place in the finals

ROUND THREE 24/7/16 ..... BLACKBURN ROVERS WFC Qualify

Round three soon followed with five teams fighting it out for a place in the finals. Blackpool Senior Seasiders, Blackburn Rovers WFC and Fleetwood Town Flyers who were joined by AFC Fylde and a first visit for Carlisle United WFC.

During the day some excellent football was on show and it was clear from early on that it was Blackburn and the Fleetwood Flyers who were dominating proceedings. As the event went on it was clear that it would be one of these two teams who would qualify and so as the luck of the draw had it they came head to head in the final match of the day with Blackburn needing a win and the Flyers just requiring a draw. A close, tense match followed and nearing the end of the second half it was still 0-0 but with a quick break from defense it was Blackburn who scored the only goal of the game to seal the victory and secure their place in the final

"This summer league competition has been fantastic, very well organised and played with respect to other teams roll on Finals Sunday see you all then" Graham Gresh Brynes Blackburn Rovers WFC

ROUND FOUR 21/8/16 ..... AFC FYLDE WFC Qualify

Round 4 again saw a full compliment of six teams entered for the tournament, featuring the ever present, Blackpool Senior Seasiders, Blackburn Rovers WFC and Fleetwood Town Flyers plus Wigan Walkers Whites, AFC Fylde and Carlisle who had again made the journey south.

Another great day of football was enjoyed by all with some real quality on show from all the teams but it was eventually AFC Fylde who came out on top and booked their place in the final, playing some great football and aided by an outstanding performance from their goalkeeper

"Great day of walking football, great organisation and hospitality from Fleetwood Flyers, well done guys" Michael Taylor, AFC Fylde

ROUND FIVE 18/9/16 ..... FLEETWOOD TOWN FLYERS Qualify

Heading in to this, the final qualifying round it was clear that Fleetwood Flyers had a problem, they had not yet qualified for the finals of their own league series ! So today was the day they had to pull out all the stops but Carlise also needed to win the tournament to seal their place in the Finals.

Blackpool Senior Seasiders, Blackburn Rovers WFC, Fleetwood Town Flyers and Carlisle again making the journey south made up the teams for the day. As we had now come to expect the standard of football was high and we had to wait until the fourth game before a goal was scored and it was for the Fleetwood Flyers, securing a vital 1-0 win over Blackpool Senior Seasiders to put them in the driving seat. The next game saw Carlisle seal a 1-0 win over Blackpool to lie equal on points with the Fleetwood Flyers and only one game remaining !

And so it was that as in round three Fleetwood Flyers needed to secure a victory over Blackburn Rovers WFC to book a place in the Grand Finals .... no pressure then ! The game got underway and it was Blackburn who took an early lead to pile on the pressure as the Carlisle players celebrated on the touchline. Their celebrations were only to last a matter of minutes though as constant pressure lead to an equaliser for the Flyers from Captain Karl Jones, Fleetwood continued to pile on the pressure with nothing less than a victory being good enough and the pressure eventually paid off leading to a deserved 4-1 victory for the Fleetwood Flyers with Jones securing a hat trick for his team and securing them the last remaining place in the Grand Finals

"Well done to all the team and committee Fleetwood Town Flyers WFC for putting Walking Football on the map!" Poolfoot Farm Management

GRAND FINALS DAY 16/10/16

And so after a summer of great football featuring teams from all corners of the North West the Grand Finals day had finally arrived with the winners of the straight league format on the day would be crowned 2016 Lancashire Summer League Series Champions with Steve Curwood, Fleetwood Town FC's CEO kindly agreeing to present the awards after the final whistle

The full line-up for the day was AFC Fylde WFC, Blackpool Senior Seasiders, Blackburn Rovers WFC, Fleetwood Town Flyers and Wigan Walkers Whites. With all the teams fielding their strongest line-ups the day promised to be a hard fought, close affair and so it proved with the first three games ending in draws until Blackpool sealed the first victory with a 2-0 win over Wigan to put them top of the table at the halfway point

The next round of games saw Blackpool draw with Blackburn Rovers whilst Wigan recorded a 3-1 victory over AFC Fylde. Going in to the penultimate round of games nothing had been decided and it was still anybodies to win. Blackpool secured a 1-0 win over Fleetwood with a last minute scrambled winner from Nick Carter which ended Fleetwood,s hopes but more importantly sealed the League for Blackpool as AFC Fylde drew with Blackburn Rovers 1-1. And so it was that Blackpool Senior Seasiders were crowned Lancashire League Summer Series Champions for 2016

In the last round of games all that remained was to decide the runner-up spot which was secured by Blackburn Rovers with a narrow 1-0 win over Wigan Walkers Whites whilst against the run of play Fleetwood Flyers fell to a 1-0 loss to AFC Fylde

Congratulations to Blackpool Senior Seasiders WFC as the first winners of the Lancashire League Summer Series. The event had been a great success and received glowing reports from all that had been involved making all the hard work well worthwhile. Special thanks are extended to the Fleetwood Flyers event organisers and event coordinators, all the teams who supported the series, our two referees throughout the series, Wayne Capstick and Paul Barton, Fleetwood Town FC Community Trust, Poolfoot Farm Sports & Leisure Village, Steve Curwood Fleetwood Town FC CEO and last but not least our two photographers, Angela Carr and Barbara Clayton.

We look forward to seeing you all again next year for what will be a bigger and better tournament

"This has been a wonderful summer of football. The Finals will be brilliant. Great organisation and fabulous facilities
Up the Mighty Seasiders. Looking forward to a great competition and meeting all our good friends from around Lancashire. Some footballing greats on show." Steve Hyde, Blackpool Senior Seasiders WFC

"Thanks to everyone at Fleetwood for hosting a great tournament,superb throughout and the programme was excellent.Congratulations to Blackpool who were deserved winners,no way that keeper was ever going to be beaten on Sunday!" Wigan Walkers WFC